Noah's Ark To Be Built As Part Of Biblical Theme Park Near Moose Jaw

MOOSE JAW, Sask. — A Chinese businessman wants to build a biblical theme park in southern Saskatchewan with a massive replica of Noah's ark complete with animal reproductions and a digital experience of the life of Jesus.

The yet-to-be-named park, which still needs some government approvals, would be next to a private cemetery south of Moose Jaw.

"I'm getting lots of people saying, 'You're putting an amusement park on your cemetery?' Well, it's nothing of the sort,'' said Marc L'Hoir, manager of Sunset Cemetery, who is working on a plan with the developer.

"It's going to be an educational process where people can come and learn about loving one another. And we need more of that in the world.''

The plans for a biblical theme park set to be built south of Moose Jaw, Sask. (Photo: Sunset Cemetery)

L'Hoir said the owner of the cemetery and the adjoining land is friends with Sun Wenquing, who has already built a Bible-themed park in China.

Sun converted to Christianity from Buddhism in 2009 and has dedicated himself to the religion, said L'Hoir.

"This is part of his legacy he wants to leave behind, that he wants to spread that word.''

Sun told the China Christian Daily last year that it's his dream to build an ark of the same size referenced in the Bible, which says Noah is warned about a great flood, builds a boat and loads it with two of each animal.

L'Hoir said the Saskatchewan replica would be three-storeys high, 23 metres wide and 135 metres long — nearly the length of a CFL football field. It would also contain a children's playground.

He said workers from China would be brought in to build the park over four years at a cost of about $1.2 million. The China Christian Daily lists the cost at $40 million.

A tabernacle for worship has already been built in China and shipped to the Saskatchewan site for use in the park, said L'Hoir, who added he's confident the project will be approved and construction of the ark can begin soon.

Mike Wirges, administrator of the Rural Municipality of Moose Jaw, said council approved the development earlier this week of a "passive park'' with a walking path, statues and murals.

The plans for a biblical theme park set to be built south of Moose Jaw, Sask. (Photo: Sunset Cemetery)

News that a giant ark was part of the plan came as a shock.

"Those plans were never presented to our municipality,'' he said. "Had we known that there was certainly more to it, rest assured, we certainly would have done a little more investigation, hearings.''

Wirges said the ark will need further approvals from the rural municipality as well as the province, since it will be next to a highway. Because the spot is also close to an air-force base, there will also be height restrictions and approval may be needed from Nav Canada.

Canadian Forces Base Moose Jaw is home to the military's pilot training school and the Snowbirds air demonstration team.

Moose Jaw's other main tourist attractions include a mineral spa resort and underground boot-legging tunnels allegedly used at one time by American mobster Al Capone.

Attendees view the Noah's Ark replica during a VIP and media preview day at the Ark Encounter theme park in Williamstown, Kentucky, on Tuesday, July 5. (Photo: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

L'Hoir believes the ark will outdo them all, drawing tourists from around the globe and rivalling other religious destinations such as Vatican City in Rome and the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.

It may also entice more people to choose Sunset Cemetery as their final resting place, he suggested.

But it won't be the world's first giant ark park.

Ark Encounter, a seven-storey boat with a nearby creationist museum, opened earlier this year in Kentucky at a reported cost of US$100 million. Noah's Ark Hotel and Resort opened in Hong Kong in 2009.

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Lunch time?
Leviticus 11:7-8 reads:
And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.
Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you.

Thinking of getting the Superman insignia on your bicep?
Leviticus 19:28 states:
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.

Off to the barber?
Leviticus 19:27 states:
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.

It's bad enough if you're a man who has had his private parts injured -- or heaven forbid cut off -- but to add insult to injury, Deuteronomy 23:1 states:
He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

Have you ever had your palm read? Or maybe you've consulted your horoscope for a little guidance?
Leviticus 19:31 reads:
Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
Photo by zopdeep on Flickr.com

Heard some juicy news about Harold in the accounting department?
Can't wait to tell your BFF that you just read that Snooki is pregnant?
Leviticus 19:16 states:
Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour; I am the LORD.
Photo by JoeInSouthernCA on Flickr.com

Gentlemen -- if you ever get in a fight and you get the feeling your lady might jump in and lend you a hand by squeezing your opponent's... ahem... "secrets," you'd better stop her.
Deuteronomy 25:11-12 states:
When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets
Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.

Kids these days -- you never know what's going to come out of their mouths!
But hopefully your child doesn't curse you because Exodus 21:17 states:
"And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death."

When it comes to the Bible, this is a big no-no (unless your spouse was cheating on you):
Mark 10:11-12 states:
Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.

In our fast-paced society, does anyone really work Monday to Friday from 9-5?
Exodus 31:14-15 states:
"Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

Headed to church, ladies?
1 Corinthians 14:34-35 states:
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

Craving a big bowl of popcorn shrimp?
Leviticus 10-11 states:
And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:
They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.
Photo by jeffreyw on Flickr.com

Today it might be harder to find a bride who is a virgin rather than the other way around.
But Deuteronomy 22:20-21 states:
But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:
Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you